ON HEMP, 



263 



together by smaller and tenderer fibres, or by a sort of vesicular 

 web. To render the Hemp fit to be spun into thread, it is necessary 

 to separate the longitudinal fibres, by destroying the fibrils which 

 connect them. This is, in part, effected by the process of watering. 

 "We have remarked, under that Head, that the Hemp begins to rot 

 in the water, which weakens all the fibres of which it is composed; 

 but that the smallest and tenderest are weakened more than such as 

 are thicker and stronger: accordingly, the connecting vesicular 

 fibres will suffer most; so that, by that process alone, a considerable 

 progress is made towards rendering the Hemp finer by the separation 

 of the fibres. — To complete the operation, it is necessary to brake, 

 and beat it, by which means the vesicular fibres are broken, whilst 

 the longitudinal fibres, which are stronger, resist the force employed 

 to destroy the connecting web. The Brake had begun this 

 separation of the fibres, and it is rendered more perfect by the 

 Scutch. 



Having pointed out the principal advantages to be expected 

 from scutching, it will be expedient to reply to some of the 

 objections that have been made to that operation, as the speciousness 

 of them has so far deceived many of the rope-makers, as to banish 

 the practice of it entirely from some of our ports. 



FIRST OBJECTION. 



The Seidell cuts and tears the Hemp, and causes a great deal of waste, 



We would only desire those who are of this opinion, to repair 

 to the workshops of the scutchers, and there to verify the following 

 observations. 



